The Media

The media beast swoops up new subjects every 15 minutes, chews them up, and digests them. The beast strips the goodness from each individual and turns it into nutrients in the form of ratings and commercial time. Then the beast passes a stool every quarter hour and searches for more.

-- Rudy VanderLans, Emigre Magazine #44

"Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic."
-- Dan Rather

"Cars cause extensive pollution-induced illness and social problems. Road
accidents cost about $90 billion annually by killing over 40,000 Americans, about as many as diabetes or breast cancer, and injuring 5 million more.
Globally, car accidents are the fifth- and will soon be the third-largest cause of death: They currently kill a half million people and injure 15
million more every year. If automobility were a disease, vast international resources would be brought to bear to cure it."
--from "Natural Capitalism", by Paul Hawken, Amory
Lovins, and Hunter Lovins.
(Thanks to Masser Craig MacDonald for posting this to the CCM listserv)

It is a plague, a contagion and a poison. A hundred thousand tiny needles stab the pores and inject a toxic cocktail. The evil ingredients assault each sense - the endless sightline of brake lights, the shriek of horns, the stink of exhaust, the tremble of overheated engines, the sour-milk taste of
despair. It is traffic.
-- from "Essay: Stuck in Traffic at the Braking Point"
By Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 26, 1999

Sparkling shining,
spokes spinning,
forward motion,
coasting freedom,
that this feeling,
may lead us
to change...
-- Jim Look

(Most recent items first.) Critical Mass 5th Annual Art Show by Leah Pietrusiak Citylink February 8, 2002 Beer, bikes, and ... polka. A Friday night dispatch in which proselytizing pedal-pushers descend on the Baby Doll for 'willy-nilly' dancing. By BRETT SCHAEFFER, contributing Writer, Chicago Journal Thursday, February 7, 2002 (Photos by Jim Redd) Don't kill the messengers: Unauthorized bike racers elude rules, traffic, cops By Doug George Tribune staff reporter January 17, 2002 ..."The Tour da Chicago is a loosely organized, unauthorized on-street bicycle race held for bike messengers, as well as hard-core commuters and like-minded urban cyclists. ..." More >> Courier takes in world sights 2-wheel treks go beyond city limit By Jon Anderson Tribune staff reporter Published January 17, 2002 "As someone once said, every place is within walking distance if you have the time. George Christensen, a Chicago bike messenger, feels the same way about bicycles. Recently, Christensen rode solo across India to Nepal..." More >> "Pals help bicyclist down a hard road. (Chicago cyclist) Al Stern and his bike were nearly inseparable, but after a hit-and-run driver badly hurt him, friends and strangers alike rallied to his aid..." >> more By Amy E. Nevala Chicago Tribune staff reporter Published January 13, 2002 [Donations can be made toward Al's medical expenses at www.biketraffic.org.] "Mean Streets" by Jeff Balch. Feature article in the 9/21 issue of the Chicago Reader about the Thomas McBride case. McBride was killed by an enraged SUV driver two years ago. Masser T.C. O'Rourke has been following the case and is quoted in the article. Entire text in doc format. Toronto Islands: Oases of Calm, by Tooker Gomberg. This is an inspiration for our own Depave LSD and BlueWays campaigns. Chicago Tribune article on the unveiling of a car-free Grant Park Plan at the 2001 Break The Gridlock Conference, by Sean D. Hamill, September 30, 2001: "Architect Jacob Allderdice admits right away that his plan is "on the face of it, insane." But, then, anyone who proposes to dig up and get rid of a section of Lake Shore Drive knows he's facing an uphill battle..." More, with photos >> The June 16, 2001 Burnham Vision Ride With Montgomery Ward and Tribune writer Eric Zorn. Eric's column in the Chicago Tribune \| Eric's home page (with full transcript, photo and more.) Dig up Lake Shore Drive? by Jon Hilkevitch Chicago Tribune May 7, 2001 One pro-bicycling organization that complains it is being excluded from the official events calendar [of Chicago Bike Month] is the Campaign for a Free and Clear Lakefront. The group advocates tearing up Lake Shore Drive, starting with the section between Monroe Street and the Museum Campus, and replacing the pavement with green space to connect the lakefront to Grant Park. more >> Full text of "Shoot the Messenger," by John Greenfield, a thorough and well-written critique of "The Immortal Class" by Chicago masser Travis Culley and the story behind it. First published as the feature article in the Chicago Reader, March 30, 2001. Review of the 2001 CM Art Show by Lydialyle Gibson published in Chicago Journal Walk, don’t drive. A quixotic grassroots group pushes for the unpaving of Lake Shore Drive" by Lydialyle Gibson, Staff Writer, Chicago Journal, March 15, 2001. "[Lake Shore] Drive intrudes on Grant Park's solitude" Letter by masser Michael Burton published in the Chicago Sun-Times, January 26, 2001. Urban Assault article in Metropolis Magazine (Aug/Sept '00 Issue) by Kristin Ostberg "It’s 2 A.M. and T.C. O’Rourke is leading a handful of bikers sweating and swearing through the heavy gravel of an old rail bed. They’re on an "Urban Assault," a late night tour of Chicago’s wasted parts. The riders crash through industrial lots ..." Monetta sets Hoekstra Straight! Tribune writer Hoekstra: "...when they get on a bike, they feel . . . empowered. It's as if they're on vehicular Viagra." Monetta: " If cyclists seem agressive, maybe it's because they are trying to share the road with a bunch of motorists who are unwilling to share it." Excerpts from "Critical to Recall Real `Mass' Appeal" by Charles Higgins, San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 30, 2000. (Excellent piece. Must-read!) "... there are many faces to Critical Mass. The event is at once a rebellion and a celebration. It is a manifestation of deep consternation over transportation, the environment, materialism and free market-driven urban planning..." more> Trib's Mateja brickbats bikers; bikers bite back; Mateja whines. "The 92nd edition of the Chicago Auto Show is over, so it's time for the annual awarding of bouquets for jobs well done and brickbats for less-than-stellar performances..." (Chicago Tribune, Feb.25, 2000) Car Culture -- Trying to Hit the Auto Show with a Bike Mentality. An article on the Car Show ride and protest by Chris Wiersema, New City Magazine, February 17, 2000 Review of the '00 Critical Mass Art Show by Chicago Tribune writer Jon Anderson (Feb. 15, 2000) "Dr. Dan" Urges Bicycles as an Alternative to Autos," By Mikal Harris of The St. Charles County Post. "Dr. Dan Kliman's day at the office begins when he grabs the handlebars of his blue mountain bike at his Central West End home in St. Louis. He rides the bike...". An article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch about former Chicago masser Dan Kliman who recently moved to St. Louis and organized that city's first Critical Mass rides. Go Dr. Dan!! "Chicago Bike Racks Reach Critical Mass" by Steve Buchtel, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. "Why would a Critical Mass (CM) regular take a job that involves working closely with the Man, in this case the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT)? Because..." Chicago Sun-Times article on BikeWinter, December 23, 1999, by Gilbert Jimenez, Tranportation Editor. "Chicago's blustery winter winds freeze the tears on your face as snow drifts around your feet. Intersections are gripped by gridlock as cars skate over streets frozen and slick. Sounds like perfect weather for a bike ride..." (also see www.bikewinter.org) No Wheels: The Joys Of Carlessness -- Non--Conformists Reject The Auto Culture by Connie Lauerman, Tribune Staff Writer October 7, 1999. Interviews with Chicago Massers Gin Kilgore, Eric Anderson, and Dave Glowacz. "Joy Riders" by Kristin Ostberg (originally published in the Chicago Reader, August 20, 1999) and letters in response by Tom McClurg and Carlos Pecciotto. "When my friend Michael Burton first started talking up bikes and bugging me to get on one, I told him my most recent encounter with a cyclist was..." A mass worth celebrating: "This bunch of holy rollers can be hell on (two) wheels.": An article by Paige Smoron about the Halloween ride and levitation of the Amoco Building. Chicago Sun-Times , November 10, 1998. Report From the Heartland: Critical Mass in Chicago, by Jim Redd. (reprinted from "Sixrag," the San Francisco CM paper, September, 1998) Motorists, Bike Riders Clash, With Mounting Casualties. Wall Street Journal article, Aug 26, 1998. "Preston Tyree was pedaling to work on his bicycle when a pickup truck cruised alongside him on a busy street in Austin, Texas. Suddenly a half-full beer can whizzed past Mr. Tyree's head, ...." Pedal Power Article about Chicago Critical Mass in the May 10, 1998 issue of The Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, by Rick Kogan In Utopia of Bicyclists, Cars Are King of the Road No More Article in the April 27, 1998 issue of The New York Times about the San Francisco Critical Mass. "I'm packin' heat!" -- Audio clip from WLS TALK RADIO SHOW with massers Iris Becker, Josh Sutcliffe, and Petro. April 16, 1998 (600k .wav. 1 min.). Critical Mass Media, by Jacquie Phelan. Reprinted from Bike Magazine. Ms. Phelan (a.k.a. "Alice B. Toeclips") points out how Critical Mass makes up in theatrics what it lacks in money to get free media "advertising" attention. Pedaling Art. Michael G. Glab Looks Into the Coming of Autogeddon. A review of the Chicago CMArt Show at Lineage Gallery, published in the December 18, 1997 Issue of New City. . use a bike, go to jail. Critical Mass rides try to give bicyclists, well, critical mass. by Cathy Lang Ho, Metropolis Magazine, October 1997. Critical Mass or Critical Mess? A letter published in the February/March Issue of Chicagoland Bicycle Federation's CBF News, with a response by Jim Redd. Review of Asphalt Nation by Seth Dunn in the November/December Issue of Earth Watch Magazine. Rights of Passage. Critical Mass is sending the city a message: the revolution will not be motorized. Article by Michael Glab in the Chicago Reader, October 3, 1997 (The first published article about Chicago CM).	“Practice your sound bites” -- Greg Guenther The media beast swoops up new subjects every 15 minutes, chews them up, and digests them. The beast strips the goodness from each individual and turns it into nutrients in the form of ratings and commercial time. Then the beast passes a stool every quarter hour and searches for more. -- Rudy VanderLans, Emigre Magazine #44 "Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic." -- Dan Rather "Cars cause extensive pollution-induced illness and social problems. Road accidents cost about $90 billion annually by killing over 40,000 Americans, about as many as diabetes or breast cancer, and injuring 5 million more. Globally, car accidents are the fifth- and will soon be the third-largest cause of death: They currently kill a half million people and injure 15 million more every year. If automobility were a disease, vast international resources would be brought to bear to cure it." --from "Natural Capitalism", by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins. (Thanks to Masser Craig MacDonald for posting this to the CCM listserv) It is a plague, a contagion and a poison. A hundred thousand tiny needles stab the pores and inject a toxic cocktail. The evil ingredients assault each sense - the endless sightline of brake lights, the shriek of horns, the stink of exhaust, the tremble of overheated engines, the sour-milk taste of despair. It is traffic. -- from "Essay: Stuck in Traffic at the Braking Point" By Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 26, 1999 Sparkling shining, spokes spinning, forward motion, coasting freedom, that this feeling, may lead us to change... -- Jim Look